Shire had no intention of showing off in front of the US Army, but reality didn't allow it.
...
Drizzle fell like mist and smoke.
The US Army's First Armored Brigade trudged forward on the highway like a snail.
It wasn't that they didn't want to move faster, but the Reims area was networked with rivers and had plenty of water. Combined with days of rain, the highway was already a muddy mess.
At this point, when the tank treads rolled over, the highway along with the roadbed was turned into a "swamp."
As a result, tanks blocked tanks, each stuck and unable to move.
Soon, there were shouts for sand and stone filling, towing with armored vehicles, and paving with timber, alongside the roar of engines and splashes of mud from spinning tires everywhere.
Covered in mud, Patton looked helplessly at the sides of the highway and complained, "Damn it, the path beside the road is much better than the highway."
